Wairarapa Times-Age SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1939. A CONTINUING ENTERPRISE.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 February 1939, Page 6

Wairarapa Times-Age SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1939. A CONTINUING ENTERPRISE.

AS the president of the Masterton A. and P. Association (Mr P. It. Welch) has said, only good weather is needed to ensure the unqualified success of the association’s annual fixture on the Solway Showgrounds on Tuesday and Wednesday next. With some inevitable ups and downs in detail sections, entries have been received in satisfactory numbers and show as a, whole a substantial increase on those of last year. There js stated to be every indication, too, that standards of quality in. stock and other classes will be at least well maintained. With a small army of voluntary workers co-operating with its paid officials, the.'association has built up a highly efficient organisation and, under an enterprising policy, improvements are being effected year by year in the layout and equipment of the Showgrounds and in the conduct of the Show.

Economically and in other respects, the A. and P. Show takes a very important place in the life of this district —a place recognised and emphasised by Ministers ol the Crown and others in the special Show Supplement we publish today—and may be expected to do so for an indefinite time to come. Any suggestion that fixtures of this kind are becoming old-fashioned, are tending to become obsolete, overlooks the essential purposes they serve and their intimate bearing on the welfare and progress of districts like the Wairarapa.

At a broad view, the Show is a kind of district stocktaking—a demonstration of what is being accomplished and can be accomplished as time goes on in the industries on which the district vitally depends. Ilegardcd more in detail, the Show is for all who are interested or concerned a comprehensive bureau of standards, enabling them to see readily whether headway is being made or lost in this or that branch ol farm production. The exhibition of the finest examples of live stock to be found in this district and in other areas is at the same time a constant stimulus to all-round improvement.

A Show like that to be seen at Solway next week is in fact so closely identified with the staple, indiisiries of the district, and has such a valuable and helpful influence on the development of standards in all branches of farm husbandry, that it must be regarded as taking an essential place in the organisation of otii" land industries. The breadth of interests represented at the same time makes the Show a gathering centre at which the people of both town and country areas may meet and profitably exchange ideas. From that standpoint, and also in the social aspects which add so much to its interest and attraction, the Show may be expected to develop more and more im |>or tanee as t ime goes on. There is no hard and last di \ iding line between primary and other industries and if the evolution of industry pursues a normal course in the Wairarapa and throughout New Zealand the scope and significance of the annual displays at Solway and at. other similar fixtures will be broadened progressively as economic development extends.

It is emphatically in the interests of our district as a whole that the Show should attract the greatest possible measure of support from exhibitors and from the public. 'Die essential purposes aimed at are served very well indeed and the association wisely turns a sympathetic ear to suggestions for the detail improvement of its fixture. Every organisation worthy of the name is under the necessity of bringing itself progressively up to date and with the development of modern facilities there are opportunities of lifting the organisation of the Show, in both its educational and entertainment aspects, to higher levels of efficiency and achievement. People who think that the most is not being made of opportunities of this kind should not be content to stand off and criticise. In view of the important community interests involved, they should rather join the A. and P. Association —-a body of broad-based const itut ion, with members drawn from the towns as well as from rural areas—and see to it for themselves that progressive ideas and suggestions get the practical and considered attention they deserve.